Mayor named mates as council cultural advisers

Natalie O'Brien

A former Rockdale mayor appointed a string of so-called official ''cultural advisers'' to his council, most of whom were fellow ALP members or candidates in the local council elections.

Bill Saravinovski, who is still a Rockdale councillor, appointed Jorde Petrovski, who ran as an ALP candidate for council, to be his adviser for Balkan affairs.

Mr Petrovski told Fairfax Media he was Mr Saravinovski's godfather (or ''numko'') but Mr Saravinovski has denied this and said he is not related in any way to Mr Petrovski.

Mr Saravinovski's ALP running mate for the council elections last year, pastry chef Khalil Ibrahim, who has since been discovered to be an undischarged bankrupt, was appointed the ''Honorary Mayor's Adviser for Arabic Affairs''.

Investigations have revealed that Mr Saravinovski appointed five advisers and a council ambassador and authorised the council to issue each of them with official Rockdale City Council business cards. The adviser and ambassador positions are unpaid and Fairfax Media is not suggesting that any of the appointed individuals did anything wrong.

Apart from the Balkan and Arabic affairs advisers, he appointed ALP council candidate Zlate Angelkoski as adviser for Macedonian community affairs; George Kassab, who ran for council as an independent, adviser for Egyptian affairs; and the president of the Serbian Australian Community Association Miodrag Pesic was appointed ''Honorary Ambassador'' and adviser to the mayor for Serbian affairs. The 2012 Citizen of the Year, Mikall Chong, was also given council business cards by the council.

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A spokesman for the council said each set of 250 cards cost about $50 to print. However, the spokesman said they were not paid expenses.

Mr Saravinovski also appointed Sergio Bustamante, who ran for council in 2008 and was appointed Citizen of the Year in 2009, as an ''Honorary Ambassador''. Mr Bustamante is overseas but his family said they understood he still holds the position.

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The council spokesman said the general manager, Meredith Wallace, ordered the practice be stopped last May. But Mr Saravinovski has denied it was stopped by Ms Wallace.

Fairfax Media has discovered that a month after Ms Wallace was said to have terminated the positions, Mr Saravinovski and Mr Angelkoski, in his position as adviser for Macedonian community affairs, were being interviewed by the Macedonian morning program 24 About Life.

Mr Saravinovski said Mr Angelkoski still held the advisory position. ''As mayor, it is my discretion as to the choice of these advisers and ambassadors,'' he said. ''They are engaged on a voluntary basis and receive no fee, and I believe that I made that choice from a broad selection of community groups.

''As mayor, I set up a community advisory committee to take in these different groups. ALP membership is not a criterion of selection or the focus of these committees.''

Incumbent mayor Shane O'Brien, who was elected last September, said he considered the practice ''inappropriate to continue''. He said there would be no cultural advisers under his watch.

But Mr Saravinovski has contradicted Mr O'Brien, saying the practice continues. ''It is still in effect being carried on by the current mayor,'' he wrote in a statement.

Mr O'Brien is hopeful of preselection for the federal seat of Barton and has had the endorsement of Mr Saravinovski.

Rockdale Council, which was the subject of an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry a decade ago, is once again at the centre of allegations of impropriety and favouritism for mates.

Last week it was reported that Mr Saravinovski had failed since 2009 to fully declare his full financial interest in real estate agency CR Realty and that he had sole financial responsibility for the business. He also failed to reveal that he had been acting as a real estate agent selling properties including apartments at 29 King Edward Street, Rockdale.

Mr Saravinovski said it was an oversight and he would amend his pecuniary interest register, although he still maintains that he does not derive any income from the business.

Ms Wallace declined to say whether she would be taking any code of conduct action against Mr Saravinovski over his returns, saying only that his amended disclosure of interest returns will be dealt with in accordance with the local government regulations that allow the updating of information by submitting a fresh return at any time.